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Lesson's Index Level A1

Accusative case

der Akkusativ

This lesson contains topics:

1. Revision of nominative case
2. What is Accusative case?
   1. Rules of declension
   2. Articles in the accusative case
   3. Declension of definite articles in accusative case
   4. Declination of indefinite articles in accusative case
3. Indicators of quantity in German language

A little revision of nominative case

Cases describe what grammatical role a noun or a pronoun plays in a sentence. We have already discussed a bit about cases in chapter 4 (Articles in the nominative case). When a noun or pronoun is the subject in a sentence, it is considered to be in the nominative case. There are some verbs that are only used in nominative case. (i.e. they do not take a direct object.) For example,

sein (to be). Er ist ein Arzt. (He is a doctor.)

heißen (to be called). Er heißt Doktor Müller. (His name is Doctor Müller.)

bleiben (to remain / to stay). Er bleibt immer glücklich. (He always remains happy.)

werden (to become). Sein sohn wird auch ein Arzt. (His son will also become a doctor.)

What is Accusative case?

Accusative case is simply another name for the objective case. Accusative is the direct object. When a noun or a pronoun is the direct object in a sentence, it is considered to be in the Accusative case. For example,

On small screens, please drag right or left to see the full width of following tables.

A question “what” or “whom” can be asked about accusative (direct object). Most of the verbs in German take direct object. For example, if you can recall most of the verbs from Lesson 9 (Present tense in German)

haben (to have)

wissen (to know)

brauchen (to need)

denken (to think)

machen (to do / to make)

studieren (to study)

essen (to eat)

sprechen (to speak)

All these verbs take direct object (accusative). In German they are called Verben mit Akkusativ (verbs that take direct object).

Cases are important in German because pronouns and articles before nouns decline (change their endings) according to the case.

For example,
Dr. Müller sucht seinen Kuli. (Dr. Müller is looking for his pen.)
Dr. Müller sucht den Kuli. (Dr. Müller is looking for the pen.)
Der Kuli (pen) is a masculine noun and masculine articles and pronouns decline in the accusative case (objective case).

Rules of declension

In articles, pronouns or quantity indicators that show declension, the rules of declension remain same in all three.
In accusative, only the masculine ending changes to "en", and all the rest of the endings remain the same as in nominative.

Articles in the accusative case

In chapter 4 (Articles in the nominative case) we have discussed that all articles whether they are definite or indefinite, decline according to the case.

Declension of definite articles in accusative case

In accusative case, masculine article “der” changes into “den”. Feminine article “die” and neuter article “das” do not change. Similarly plural definite article “die” do not decline in accusative case. For example:

Ich esse den Burger. (I eat /am eating the burger.)
“Der Burger” has changed to “den Burger”, because it is direct object (in accusative case) and masculine noun. The article of the direct object "der" declines to den.

See another example of masculine noun:
Der Apfel (apple)
Ich esse den Apfel. (I eat / am eating the apple.)

Now recall the table we have discussed earlier:

In the above examples, the articles of “die Medikamente” and “das Auto” have not changed in the accusative case because “das Auto” is a neuter noun and “die Medikamente” is a plural noun.

Declination of indefinite articles in accusative case

Masculine indefinite article “ein” declines to “einen” and the rest of the articles remain same.

For example:

In chapter 4 we have also discussed that the word “kein” behaves similar to indefinite article. So, in accusative case, the declension of “kein” is also similar to indefinite article i.e. when used with masculine direct object, the word “kein” declines to “keinen”.

For example:

Ich esse keinen Burger. (I do not eat a burger.)

Ich esse keinen Apfel. (I do not eat an apple.)

Herr Schäfer sucht keine Medikamente. (Mr. Shepherd is not looking for medicines.)

Dr. Müller fährt kein Auto. (Dr. Müller does not drive a car.)

Indicators of quantity in German language

"Kein" is in fact part of the group that are called quantity indicators. Some of them decline and some don't. The topic of adjective and quantity indicator's declension is advanced and they show declension in complex sentence structures. These topics are generally discussed in B1 and B2 levels. At this level of course i.e. A1 and A2 quantity indicators don't show any significant declension.
Following are the indicators of quantity in German language.

• viel (many, much, a lot of)
  When used with singular noun it comes in native form "viel", e.g.
  Ich habe viel Geld. (I have a lot of money.) Ich esse viel Brot. (I eat a lot of bread.)
  When used with plural noun it adds and ending "-e".
  Ich habe viele Autos. (I have many cars.)
  Herr Stumm hat viele Brüder. (Mr. Stumm has many brothers.)
• alle (all, everyone)
  Alle is normally used in plural.
  Alle sind hier. Wir müssen jetzt fahren. (All are here. We have to go now.)
  Herr Stumm hat viele Brüder. Alle sind sehr nett. (Mr. Stumm has many brothers. All of them are very nice.)
  Alle müssen morgen hier sein. (Everyone has to be here tomorrow.)
• beide (both)
  Beide is used only in plural.
  Wir beide sind Studenten. (We are both students.)
  Sie beide fahren nach Berlin. (They both are going to Berlin.)
  Beide müssen morgen hier sein. (Both have to be here tomorrow.)
• jemand (someone, anyone), niemand (no one, nobody)
  Both jemand and niemand are used only in singular.
  Ist hier jemand? (Is anyone here?)
  Nein, hier ist niemand. (No, nobody is here.)
  Jemand muss hier sein. (Someone has to be here.)
  Ja, aber im Moment ist niemand hier. (Yes, but at the moment no one is here.)
• manche (some), einige (some, few)
  Manche and Einige are used to mention small numbers or quantity out of big numbers or quantity. Both can be used for countable and uncountable nouns. Their difference is subtle. "Mache" is used for lesser number or quantity than "einige".
  Diese Firma ist klein. Nur einige Leute arbeiten hier. (This firm is small. Only few people work here.)
  Manche can't be used in sence of "few" in above sentence. In following sentence both "einige" and "manche" can be used.
  Ich sehe einige Studenten nicht hier. (I do not see some students here.)
  Ich sehe manche Studenten nicht hier. (I do not see some students here.)
• ein bisschen (a bit, a little bit)
  Sprechen Sie Deutsch? (Do you speak German?)
  Nur ein bisschen. (Just a bit.)
• ein paar (a couple of, some, few)
  Ich habe ein paar Freunde in Berlin. (I have some friends in Berlin.)
  Ich sehe nur ein paar Studenten hier. (I see only a few students here.)
• man (one as pronoun)
  Man with single "n" is used as pronoun in the accusative to make impersonal phrases. Please don't confuse it with noun "der Mann" (man)
  Man soll nie lügen. (One should never lie.)
  Man kann die Stadt von hier sehen. (One can see the city from here.)

Vocabulary from above examples
das Geld (money), das Brot (bread), der Bruder (brother, plural Brüder), sehr (very), nett (nice), morgen (tomorrow), der Morgen (morning), nach (to, used as preposition), im Moment (at the moment), die Leute (people), von (from, of, used as preposition)
Verbs
essen (to eat), ich esse, du isst, er/sie/es isst, wir essen, ihr esst, Sie essen, sie essen,
fahren (to drive, to travel), ich fahre, du fährst, er/sie/es fährt, wir fahren, ihr fahrt, Sie fahren, sie fahren,
arbeiten (to work) ich arbeite, du arbeitest, er/sie/es arbeitet, wir arbeiten, ihr arbeitet, Sie arbeiten, sie arbeiten,
sehen (to see) ich sehe, du siehst, er/sie/es sieht, wir sehen, ihr seht, Sie sehen, sie sehen.
sprechen (to speak) ich spreche, du sprichst, er/sie/es spricht, wir sprechen, ihr sprecht, Sie sprechen, sie sprechen,
lügen (to lie) ich lüge, du lügst, er/sie/es lügt, wir lügen, ihr lügt, Sie lügen, sie lügen.